Back from the game....

Staying at friends house in Preston after a rollercoaster of a game.

We didn't play well really but it was a great match, atmosphere was decent, especially early on and we made Blackburns fans look a complete joke (although they're terrible attendance, which one fan who I spoke to blamed on the £20 ticket price, spoke for itself).

Defensively we were dreadful. Apart from Timmy, the defence was a shambles. Not sure how Perch is paid to play football - his first half perfomance was incredibly bad - I'm not sure he's ever learnt how to head a football.

Second half we picked it up, and if he hadn't been for some awful refereeing decisions, we may have (undeservedly) got back into before the ridiculous ending. Cabaye and Guthrie sprayed some decent passes around and we actaully looked threatening. Ba worked hard but struggled to make an impact and the game passed HBA by.

Sammy should have started, we looked instantly better when he came on. Obertan was awful, although it made a change from Marveaux on the right, who cut inside every. single. time and slowed down a lot of our moves. Would definitely prefer him on the left.

Generally, I'm content. Obviously I'm gutted to lose, especially with such a poor goal, but the spirit to get back into twice showed the character in the team. We didn't play well, but still could, possibly should, have got something from it.

HTL.

C+P from other thread:

Krul - 8 - Nothing he could do about the goals, caught some difficult balls.
Simpson - 5 - Raped by Hoillet first half, really struggled.
Colo - 6 - Didn't work with Perch at all, had some decent moments but wasn't his usual self
Perch - 3 - Absolutely dire first half, average in the second. Can't head the ball to save his life.
Santon - 6 - Improved after a dissapointing first half. Got forward well and linked with Jonas decently at times.
Marveaux - 5 - Needs to play on the left. Cut in everytime he got forward and slowed our attacks down.
Cabaye - 7 - Him and Guthrie were great second half and in ET, spraying the ball around nicely.
Guthrie - 7 - Probably MOTM for me. Ran the game second half and great goal.
Jonas - 5 - Really quiet game. Looked uncomfortable when moved to right back.
HBA - 5 - Just never got into it. Barely touched the ball.
Ba - 7 - Worked really hard, and was unlucky not to score. Isolated at times, but not really his fault.

Obertan - 5 - So frustrating. Can't cross to save his life and he seems to not watch the game at times. Got into some good position though.
Sammy - 7 - Looked so, so dangerous. Should have started. Quiet in ET though
Lova - 6 - Pretty quiet but won the penalty and made some nice runs.

 

Did Hatem play in the hole?

 

Good summary.

I've only watched the highlights on BBC, but I think we showed a lot of guts to come back in the manner we did. I think maybe we should've pressed harder and tried to exploit what probably would've been a disheartened Blackburn side in extra time.

Atleast it's given the lads the kick up the arse that we needed because we looked a bit complacent against Wigan. Pardew will need to sort out our set pieces over the weekend as that's where Stoke are deadliest.

Penalties are becoming a bit of a concern for me now though. Wolves should've had one, Spurs got one and now Blackburn. We don't need to be giving teams that kind of easy advantage over us.

 

Yeah, but he barely touched the ball and he didn't really work well with Demba.

 

He still needs time like, just a bit worried that he is too scared. Understandably after what happened to him like

 

Listening to the radio it sounded like he had abut 1 touch all game. I never heard his name mentioned apart from when the commentators wee saying the game is passing him by.

 

To be fair you couldn't say what he did was poor, because he actually did nothing. At all. He'll come good though.

 

I think so too. Especially with all the French players we have helping him along

 

No doubt.

By the way, did the highlights on BBC show any of the penalty claims? There were about 3 handballs that looked stonewall from where I was, and just before their pen Ba got pulled down by Samba, which I thought was a pen. DId they clear any of them up? Also, was Givet offside? Hard to tell from where I was but it must have been tight.

 

It basically just showed the goals, hardly any replays, no commentary. Pathetic basically

 

Givet looked onside, was poor marking, whoever was marking him didn't mark him at all.

Didn't show all of the penalty claims from what I heard on the radio, just the one straight before their penalty, we only got a couple of minutes at most for the highlights and I wasn't very happy about that til Birmingham literally got about 7 seconds.

 

Perch

 

Really? I would have never of guessed.

In all fairness there was another bloke free at the back post as well I think, judging by the 2 second clip of that goal, so someone else wasn't sticking with their man either

 

I don't know if it was Perch's man, but no doubt he was standing not doing what he was supposed to lol. Yeah, I don't think it is a coincidence that our marking was bad without Stevie Taylor - very important player

 

Marveaux missed an absolute sitter in the second half as well at 1-0. Free header about 7 yards out.

 

I reckon he'd work better with Best. Ba likes to drop deep to get the ball and i reckon an AM works better with someone who leads the line

 

Yeah, Ba and Ben Arfa both like to go back into midfield and get the ball from there. Anelka would compliment Ben Arfa perfectly haha